How to Show Diversity As an Applicant

During our recent MedSchoolCoach webinar, “Establishing Your Brand: How to be Unique When Applying to Medical School”, Dr. Mehta, CEO of MedSchoolCoach, answered some admissions related questions from the attendees. Read more about Dr. Mehta’s take on diversity and how to stand out as an applicant below!

Dr. Mehta: Here is a question that I can take from Michael out there. He says, “What is the best way for a middle-class white male to show diversity when applying to medical school?”. I think you can pretty much replace middle-class white male with middle-class Asian, middle-class Indian, and unfortunately a lot of overrepresented minorities within the medical field and people who don’t necessarily think of themselves as diverse.

And you’re right, racially and socioeconomically, you may not be very diverse comparatively to the entire pool of applicants. But that doesn’t mean you’re actually not diverse, right? This again I think goes back to the establishing of brand. If you can bring something else to the table, if you can bring something unique to the table, your socioeconomic status is going to go out the window, right? So, if you’re a middle-class white male who is a ballerina, well, that would be great. If you’re a middle-class white male who has, as Dr. Marinelli mentioned some examples, gone abroad and started some programs or started a nonprofit and really focused on international work then that is awesome. I mean that is diversity. You are bringing diversity to the class.

Even if you’re a middle-class white male or a middle-class Asian who maybe didn’t study Biology and studied something different in college, you can show medical schools that you’re bringing something different to the table. So, keep in mind, you know, diversity does not always come by the color of your skin.